"He blesseth them also, so that they are multiplied greatly; and suffereth not their cattle to decrease. Again, they are 'minished' and brought low through oppression, affliction, and sorrow." Psalms 107:38,39 KJV

This is the great thing about old books, like the King James Bible~within the space of two sentences, two varied words are used to impart similar meaning, (one of which is the subject of my query). I just wish that we could hang on to some of these words that have disappeared from our lexicon.

I am wondering about the word, 'minished', its history, any tidbits you can dig up, Dr. Goodword, and finally, how it is related to the word, 'minced'.

Thank you for your help, all who maintain this forum. I'll wait, hopefully, for an article, and until then, welcome any comments, as they are always so helpful.

Have a great week, Doc,Sardith

“The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.” ~Mark Twain, [pen name for Samuel Clemens], American author and humorist, (1835-1910)~

early 15c., from merger of two obsolete verbs, diminue and minish. Diminue is from Old French diminuer "make small," from Latin diminuere "break into small pieces," variant of deminuere "lessen, diminish," from de- "completely" + minuere "make small" (see minus).

Minish is from Old French menuisier, from Latin minuere. Related: Diminished; diminishes; diminishing.Online Etym Dict

French again, Philip!Surprised relatd to minus, though I shouldn't be.

Minish is another of those words that means the same as the prefixed word that one would think should reverse the meaning. Diminish and minish mean the same. Does anyone know how to make the opposite of minish with a prefix. I tried augminish but it doesn't seem to be a recognized word. I tried augment but ment and minish don't seem to have the same roots.

Decrease does not mean the same as crease, it's not even in the same ball park. But the Latin root crēscere does mean the opposite of decrease.

Redneck vocabulary has some, to me, interesting "opposite" makers. A redneck does not open a window. He/she raises a window up or raises a window down. Unless one is familiar with the particular window in question, it might seem hard to determine what is meant. A car window is usually opened by lowering it, and a house window is usually opened by raising it. Not for the redneck. To raise a car window up in redneck actually means to lower and thus open the window. Well, if you aren't born a redneck its too late for you to understand.

We have a problem with setting the room thermostat because we turn the A/C up to make it cooler but we turn the furnace down to make it cooler.

Philip, i've never heard "raise a window down." The difference in car and sash windows is that car windows are open when they are down, and the sashes are open when up. I do remember some large school windows that could also be lowered from the top in hopes of improving the circulation.

A/C cretes problems. Does "turn down the a/c mean to make it warmer or cooler? Ditto for heat.

Last edited by Perry Lassiter on Thu May 16, 2013 1:56 pm, edited 1 time in total.

YIKES! My head is spinning. I had no idea there were so many ways to open up/down the windows/sashes, or turn up/down the heat minished, diminished, augminished, contraminish, adminish, inframinish and on we go!

I just wanted to find out about the mincing connection, and now it seems I've only opened a 'can of worms',and boy have you ever minced it!

Thanks for all of your great detective work.Sardith

“The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.” ~Mark Twain, [pen name for Samuel Clemens], American author and humorist, (1835-1910)~

The Spinners, a classic R&B group from back in the day, had a latter-day hit sometime in the 80s called Love Connection, with a parenthetical subtitle "Raise the Window Down." I always wondered where that came from, because I'd never heard of or seen it before, or, for that matter, from then until now.

While ilstening to a news report about the massive tornado in Oklahoma, I wondered, as I do from time to time, what idea people get who hear the phrase "razed to the ground" but don't know the word is r-a-z-e rather than r-a-i-s-e.